Caribbean Facts and Figures

Caribbean Facts and Figures

Interesting
Caribbean
facts & tidbits

Tourist count

Roughly two million tourists visit the Caribbean Islands per year.

World's top cruise destination

The Caribbean accounts for nearly half of the industry's passenger count. Most of the world's major cruise ships winter here.

Economy

Tourism drives the economy of most Caribbean islands. And the United States is the chief trading partner in goods and raw materials.

Caribbean compared to the Atlantic

The Caribbean water is significantly warmer, calmer, clearer and less salty. These attributes draw tourists.

Size

The Caribbean Sea is the world's second largest sea. The biggest, the Mediterranean, is only 9% larger.

Depth

The Caribbean Sea's deepest point is 7.5 kilometers (4.7 miles) below sea level.

Number of Islands

The Caribbean officially has over 7,000 islands (but that figure includes small cays, reefs, and islets). Only about 150 islands are inhabited.

Population

When Columbus arrived in 1492, the Caribbean had an estimated population of 700,000. Today, the number is about 40 million. Most descend from African slaves.

Language

Creole, Dutch, English, French, and Spanish are the top five languages spoken in the Caribbean. The entrenched European language on any given island reflects the island's colonial heritage.

Nautical link

The Caribbean Sea connects the Atlantic with the Pacific Ocean (with the assistance of the Panama Canal).

Geographical origins

The rugged-mountain islands (think Jamaica) are mainly volcanic in origin. Flat islands (like Barbados) were formed by coral formation and rising sea beds.

Etymology

The Caribbean is named after the native Carib people who once dominated many of the islands.

Best
Caribbean cruise lines

Cruise tips you can trust

Best luxury

Silversea Cruises ships are modest sized and sport spiffy interiors. Passengers are sophisticated, congenial, and well-traveled. Food and service are highly regarded. Crew-to-passenger ratio is high.

Best luxury-upmarket

Azamara Club Cruises has two ships, each accommodating up to 644 passengers. Its price point is between upmarket and luxury. They provide vacationers with a needed niche between luxury and mid-priced fares.

to see my tip-and-photo pages on the Azamara Quest ship.

Best upmarket

Celebrity Cruises is upmarket, thus clearly superior to the mid-priced lines in many ways, including cabin space, service, entertainment, food, and passenger sophistication. Most ships carry about 2,000 passengers.

Best 20-something party boat

Carnival Cruise Line has a well-documented fun, party-boat reputation. Fare are mid-priced and ships are quite large (about several thousand passengers). Has glitzy Las Vegas style entertainment and decor.

Best for families

If your children
   are 9 or younger

Disney Cruise Line has four ships, all family oriented. Pleasing kids is the prime focus, but there's something for everyone. The Fantasy is the best and newest Disney ship.

If your children
   are teens

Royal Caribbean International has specialized facilities and programs for teens. But there's plenty going on to please parents and other adults. Passengers: About 3,000.

If your children
   tweens ( to 12)

If 9 to 10, Disney Cruise Line is a better fit.  If 11 to 12, Royal Caribbean is better.

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San Juan cruise port sees record daily arrivals

The cruise port of San Juan reached a record high of 17,847 passenger arrivals on Feb. 25, who arrived on six cruise ships.

The new figure topped the previous records of 15,776 passengers set on Dec. 31; 16,712 on Jan. 8; and 16,395 on Feb. 4.

"The arrival of more than 17,000 passengers in a single day represents an economic impact of approximately $2 million to the economy of Puerto Rico," said Luis Munez Martinez, deputy director of the Puerto Rico Tourism Company (PRTC).

Recent improvements at the cruise port aided in the passenger and cruise call increase, including Pier 1, which made possible the arrival of the Disney cruises, and the expansion of Pier 3, which favored the arrival of Royal Caribbean's Quantum of the Seas, according to Colberg Ingrid Rodriguez, executive director of the Port Authority.

The ships that called on Feb. 25 included the Quantum of the Seas, Disney Fantasy, MSC Divina, Carnival Glory and Holland America's Eurodam and Nieuw Amsterdam.

Cruise ships calling on Feb. 26 and Feb. 27 include the Oceania Riviera, Carnival Liberty and Silversea's Silver Cloud, making a total of 21 cruise ships that have called in San Juan since Feb. 21, including 11 ships that called between Feb. 21 and Feb. 25.

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MSC Cruises USA sweetens inclusives for wave promotion

MSC Cruises USA kicked off wave season by adding perks including up to $200 in shipboard credits, beverage packages and reduced deposits to its 'Inclusive Experiences' pricing categories. Plus, kids 11 and under sail free on all applicable wave season bookings.

Value-added benefits are based on the Inclusive Experience category and stateroom selected.

Among the benefits for the Bella Experience are up to $50 to spend on board and reduced deposits of $100 per person for ocean-view and balcony staterooms.

For Fantastica Experience pricing, ocean-view and balcony staterooms receive up to $100 per room to spend on board, reduced deposits of $100 per person, and a drinks package consisting of 12 vouchers per person for alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages. 

In addition, Fantastica Experience customers always receive a premium location stateroom, priority choice of early or late dining, 50% off all fitness classes and personal training, free room service delivery between 6 a.m. and 11 p.m. and enhanced recreational activities for children including cooking and foreign language classes. 

Aurea Experience and MSC Yacht Club passengers in balcony staterooms and suites receive up to $200 per room to spend on board and reduced deposits of $100 per person. 

In addition, Aurea Experience passengers always receive 'My Choice Dining' flexible times, priority boarding, an all-inclusive beverage package, a spa package, access to the exclusive adults-only Top 18 sun deck and all the perks associated with the Fantastica Experience.

MSC Yacht Club passengers always get an all-inclusive VIP club level experience with priority check-in and check-out, butler service, dedicated 24-hour concierge, exclusive Top Sail lounge and pool, 24/7 complimentary alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages available within the Yacht Club area and a private MSC Yacht Club restaurant.

The wave season promotion applies to select Caribbean, Bermuda, Europe, Canary Islands and trans-Atlantic 'grand voyages' that are five days or longer and booked between Jan. 1 and Feb. 15.

In addition, MSC Cruises USA is extending its 18% flat commission for all 2015 and 2016 Caribbean group bookings on MSC Divina to Jan. 31, 2015.

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9 Fun Facts about Cruise Lines

9 Fun Facts about Cruise Lines

9 Fun Facts about Cruise Lines:

1. An average cruise ship could have six huge diesel engines producing one hundred four horse powers and guzzling three thousand gallons of fuel per hour.

2. Cruise ships on modern design can actually cost about six hundred sixty million dollars.

3. There are nine brand new ships that entered service around the North America coast line every year.

4. A modern luxury cruise vessel is able to be built, fitted out and tested in one-and-a half years though it usually takes about three years.

5. On the average, there are one hundred five thousand meals are prepared every single week onboard a cruise ship. The meals include twenty thousand pounds of beef, twelve thousand pounds of chicken and twenty eight thousands of eggs.

6. There are about one thousand crew members on board the average ships to cater to passengers every need. These people are experts from engineers to waiter to navigators.

7. A modern cruise liner are able to hold three thousand passengers aboard in an absolute luxury.

8. Caribbean is the most popular cruising destination in the world with almost every cruise line operator.

9. The cruise line industry produces two thousand five hundred fifty five gallons of gray water and thirty thousand gallons of black water every single day. Gray waters are wastes from sinks, showers and bath while black waters is what you flush down the toilets.

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Caribbean cruises losing market share, says Cruise Holidays

A smaller percentage of cruisers have booked Caribbean sailings for 2015, according to a forecast by Cruise Holidays International.

The survey shows 50.5% of cruise bookings for next year have the Caribbean as their destination, down from 54.8% in 2014.

Europe is gaining, with 12% of ocean cruises booked there next year, up from 10.4%. European river cruises account for 6.7% of bookings, up from 5.7% last year.

Cruise ship capacity in the Caribbean peaked in 2014 and is currently scheduled to begin declining in the second quarter of 2015, leaving fewer available berths.

The 2015 Cruise Trends forecast is based on bookings by 1,300 agents affiliated with Cruise Holidays.

A Dutch waterways cruise beginning in Amsterdam again is the most popular river cruise for 2015, followed by the Rhine/Main/Danube cruise through Central Europe, the Rhine Valley cruise, and a cruise through France on the Seine and Rhone rivers.

River cruises departing from two cities in Myanmar joined the list of top five non-European river cruises, after cruises departing from Beijing and Shanghai (tied for first) and one departing Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam.

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St. Thomas cruise port to expand

By Gay Nagle Myers

St. Thomas is moving ahead with plans to build a new pier at the Havensight cruise terminal, which would enable the busy port to accommodate more ships, including the industry's largest ships.

The Long Bay Landing project calls for two 1,350-foot-long parallel berths that will be divided by a pier. No construction time line has been announced.

Today, mega-ships such as Royal Caribbean's Oasis-class vessels must dock at the Crown Bay terminal when calling in St. Thomas. Crown Bay opened in 2007 with two berths.
 

Of the two ports, Havensight is the busier one. The dock was extended earlier this year so that it could accommodate three ships, but there are times when three berths aren't enough. Ships sometimes have to anchor in the harbor and tender passengers to and from shore when the pier is full.

The Long Bay Landing project will keep the U.S. Virgin Islands competitive with other Caribbean destinations as well as increase government revenue, according to Joseph Boschulte, president and CEO of West Indian Company (WICO), operator of the Havensight terminal.

"We thought long and hard about how this would affect not only our bottom line, but also the territory as a whole. We had to be sure that any new development would not be at the expense of our environment and our community," Boschulte said.

Cruise-related revenue accounts for more than 70% of the Virgin Islands economy.

"We can no longer rest on our laurels, thinking that our islands are the automatic first choice for travelers," Boschulte said. "The competition is tough, and our neighbors have watched both the good and bad choices we have made in order to improve our products."

St. Thomas cruise passengers numbers totaled 1.47 million through September, up 4% over the same period in 2013. Year-end passenger numbers in 2013 came close to the 2 million mark (1.99 million), up 4.9% over 2012.

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MSC offers free Caribbean cruise with purchase of Med sailing

By Tom Stieghorst

MSC Cruises said it will give a free, transferable cruise on select 2014 sailings of MSC Divina in the Caribbean for anyone who books the ship for a Mediterranean cruise next summer before Oct. 31.

A $500 deposit on the Mediterranean cruise is required to take advantage of the offer.

Divina began sailing in North America about a year ago on seven-day Caribbean itineraries out of Miami. It will return next summer to Mediterranean itineraries from May 16 through Sept. 19.

MSC is promoting a $1,899 package that includes roundtrip airfare to Rome or Barcelona, a seven-day cruise, a two-night post-cruise stay in a four-star hotel and all transfers needed.

Travel gateways are New York, Chicago and Miami. Government taxes and fees are extra.

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When cruise lines went global

By Tom Stieghorst

It is easy to forget that the cruise industry was not always the global, or even national business that it is today.

In the early period of modern cruising, the airlines were still regulated and selling cruises was mostly a drive-port business. I was reminded of that in talking with Carnival Corp. COO Alan Buckelew, who began his career in the 1970s at Sitmar.

Buckelew’s latest assignment takes him to China, where he will function as Carnival’s point person in that key emerging market. Buckelew said China in many ways reminds him of the cruise market in North America back in its infancy.

In the mid-1970s, Buckelew recalls, each part of the U.S. had its own cruise players.

“There were a couple of brands in Miami, one or two in New York, one in L.A., and they pretty much kept to their own neighborhoods — the Miami guys in the Caribbean, New York in the Caribbean as well, the L.A. guys in Alaska and Mexico.”

With the deregulation of airlines in 1979, flying became more affordable.

“As cruise lines began to create an air package program and began flying, more ships came into the business, and it became more of a national business rather than a regional business,” he said. “And now it’s a global business.”

As it played out, the regional cruise lines consolidated in Miami. Princess Cruises, which merged with Sitmar, and Holland America Line became part of Carnival Corp. As did Cunard Line. Another big player in the New York market, Celebrity Cruises, became part of Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd.

Now the competitive arena has shifted to China, where, Buckelew says, “we’re back in the 1970s.”

“It’s still pretty regional, not that many guests flying to the ships,” he said. Hong Kong, Shanghai and Tianjin all draw passengers from their own geographic areas.

One big difference, however, is the scale. China’s population is four times that of the U.S. There are 24 million people in greater Shanghai alone. “When I go back home to L.A. or Miami, they seem like little villages in contrast to Shanghai,” Buckelew said.

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